Banned for using VPN

[modrobert]

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I recently got banned from Reddit with this warning message showing up:

“This account has been permanently banned. Check your inbox for a message with more information.”

Looks like it really is permanent this time. The first time roughly two weeks ago the stated reason was account security related, after resetting the password it worked fine. Now I got banned again for the same reason, but this time the password reset email doesn’t show up. My Reddit account was created in 2017 and not used much, reading content for the most part as opposed to writing. I’m assuming the reason for the ban in this case is because I’m using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but not completely sure.

I’ve had similar problems with other services using VPN as well, like bank apps on the phone, video streaming through the browser, and more. In some cases the app/service give error message straight that using VPN is not allowed, while in other cases the reason is not obvious at all. The overall trend seems to be that using tools protecting privacy are considered bad in general and should be punished somehow. In this case the choice was easy, skip Reddit while continuing to use VPN, but there are services which would be a lot harder to skip if this trend continues.

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